The Mission
by itachifan incognito
Summary: So another GrimIchi *Shrugs* Basically Soul society and Hueco Mendo are going for peace and send a few of each of their people on a mission to track down a fugitive. Who are the lucky winners? (Hint: This is a grim ichi story...) Plus a few others, just to make things awkward. Rated M for later chapters. There will be fluff and smut, and this is a YAOI, so please be warned.


Ichigo shook his head, already about ready to storm out. "No, I will not do that," He murmured, glowering at the ground.

He sat on a tatami floor mat in the head captain's private meeting room, the only other people in the room being Rukia, Renji, and the head captain himself. His friends sent him anxious glances for denying a direct order from the Yamamoto, though the old man seemed amused by his reaction. "It is necessary for the sake of bringing peace between us." He said in his quiet, yet demanding voice that pulled all attention to him. "The arrancars have asked for our assistance, and we will provide it to show them we can be comrades instead of enemies. Now that this business with Aizen Sosuke is over, they would like to establish that they will not be attempting another attack on Soul Society or Karakura town. They also made it clear that they do not want us to be their enemies anymore, nor do we want them to be ours." Ichigo had to admit, that speech was pretty and all, but he wasn't buying it. "But we could be walking right into a trap. Besides, who says they'll actually stay our 'allies'?"

The captain stroked his beard thoughtfully before answering. "That's exactly why I'm sending you three. Should this be a trap, you should all be able to handle yourselves, regardless of what tricks the enemy may try to pull." He paused, opening his eyes to observe the three before continuing. "Even if they don't try anything, I want you to gauge their behavior, their actions, anything about them and give me a full report. You are a well suited for this task, since you are a fine judge of character, and have fought with and defeated most of the arrancar you will be meeting on this mission." Ichigo opened his mouth to argue more, but he knew he was already defeated. He sighed and stood, along with Rukia and Renji, and left the room. The other two quickly bowed and ran after him, Rukia promptly smacking him upside the head.

"You can't talk to the head captain that way!" She hissed, still minding her voice while she was within earshot of the guards.

"Seriously dude, he could have you executed or strip you of your status," Renji said, worriedly looking behind him.

"Like I give a shit about 'Status'," he spat, his words dripping with acid. Renji sighed and Rukia's expression softened, understanding that Ichigo wasn't one to care what others thought. Still, she wished he would show some patience…!

As they walked through the Seiratei, Ichigo's bad mood seemed to give off an evil aura, everyone around them backing off or hiding behind objects. Rukia sighed and put a hand on the furious teens' shoulder, effectively stopping his stomping.  
"Ichigo, look we don't entirely agree with this either. But!" She held up a finger before he could interrupt her. "We still have to do it. Why don't you go back to your home on earth and rest up, because like it or not, we're leaving tomorrow." Ichigo stared at her for a moment, then relaxed and nodded.  
"Yeah. I guess I knew that. I'll see you guys later then," he mumbled, flash stepping away.

Back at his house, Ichigo was relaxing on his bed, his hands resting behind his head and staring up at the ceiling. _Ugh, this sucks…_ he thought, his eyes narrowing into a glare. The Head Captain had recently declared that the soul reapers and Espada would form an uneasy alliance for now, and assist each other in rebuilding their societies. There had been opposition from both sides, but the overall leaders had already set their truce into motion. A truce that included sending people (Including a certain substitute soul reaper) back and forth between Las Nochas and Soul Society to help each other out.

So here he sat, preparing for a mission to Las Nochas tomorrow, a _Saturday_, one that he could be spending with friends out at clubs or something, but noooo, he had to spend it… well, with friends still, but also with enemies. And worst of all, he didn't even know which Arrancar he would meeting with. Well, He, Rukia and Renji. Don't get him wrong, he was thankful he was at least with people he knew, and knew that normally a team wouldn't be comprised of people from completely different divisions and seats, and he it was probably only so that Ichigo wouldn't complain more, but it just didn't seem… right to him. When asked why someone else couldn't do it, the head captain had said that Ichigo had been requested. Requested, of all things! What the hell did that mean?

Groaning, Ichigo flipped over and buried his face into his pillow. He might as well try to get some sleep before tomorrow, otherwise he'd be much worse off than he already was.

The next morning, Ichigo arrived in front of Urahara's shop, stiff and ready to bust someone's head open. He had continuously been woken up throughout the night, either by stupid goat face, hollow attacks, or people calling him about weekend plans. He'd considered simply sending a group message to everyone in his phone that he couldn't hang out, but that probably would just receive even more angry texts back. And he could ignore the hollow attacks… if he were some insensitive monster. However, this all took its toll on him, and now he was exhausted and about to step into what he considered hostile territory and deal with God only knows which Arrancar. Would it be one that had already tried to kill him, or one that didn't get the opportunity?

He smirked bitterly at the thought and pushed open the shop door, first seeing Renji and Rukia facing him. Then, there on the left was… fuck.

That blue hair drew his attention immediately, even more so than Renji's bright red mane or the sea green waves coming right at him. Wait, gre-

"Iccccchhhiiigoooo!" Nell squealed, hanging off of his neck despite the fact that she wasn't in child form. Ichigo gasped and tried to support her weight, giving her a forced smile. "Hey Nell. How ya been?"

She giggled and got back down onto her feet, taking hold of his arm. He noted that Renji seemed uneasy with her behavior, while Rukia sat with an expressionless face just like her older brothers', gaze flickering between the two standing and the arrancar sitting on front of her. He hadn't turned around to greet the orange haired boy, instead sitting rather tensely as if he were avoiding even acknowledging him. Ichigo tried not to look annoyed with this, instead managing to get Nell to release her death grip and moving to sit beside Rukia.

"Well," Rukia sighed. "I think we can continue, now that a certain _someone_ has finally decided to show up." She coughed into her fist and sent a small glare Ichigo's way, only to find that the boy was spacing out and looking at his lap. She considered hitting him for a moment before deciding against it and continuing with the mission details.

"So as I was saying, the mission objective is to track down blah blah blah…" Ichigo only heard her first few words before he really zoned out, his eyes softened and weary. He really was tired, and now he knew he had to deal with _him_ on this mission.

Him. Being Grimmjow Jager-whatever. The person who he'd been avoiding thinking about since they had first met, especially after that one dream… Ah! No, not thinking about that! His eyes widened slightly and he felt blood rush up to his face, giving his cheeks a rosey color.

Unbeknownst to the thoughtful orangette, there was someone else watching him intently, cerulean blue eyes glued to his form. The sixth Espada looked the teen over carefully, a smirk playing on his lips as he ignored the mission info or whatever. Yeah yeah, everyone got the gist of this. Find some dude and bring him back alive if possible. Something about him being 'important to studies needing to be completed a.s.a.p.' or whatever. He could really care less; he was more interested in eyeing up that blushing kid over there, the one who seemed absolutely exhausted and embarrassed about something the other couldn't figure out.

Leaning back slightly, he looked under the table to inspect his lower half. Nope, no embarrassing boners or anything. So what was the kids deal? He looked like he had to piss or something. He got caught up in his staring, spacing out as he observed the different face the teenager making. Not for any particular reason, he was just… amusing, was all. It took him a couple seconds to realize that the object of his attention was staring back at him, along with a few other pairs of eyes. He blinked and straightened, looking to Nell. She smiled and nodded at him.

"Yes, I think we are in agreement!" She replied to some unknown question, with a little too much optimism. Grimmjow scratched at his head, worried about what she had just agreed to for the both of them.

"Alright then, meeting dismissed. We'll leave in about an hour, so everyone meet back here, alright?" She asked, looking at the two arrancar, then the substitute and vice-captain soul reapers. Everyone agreed, and after the three soul reapers flash stepped out, Grimmjow turned to Nell. "What the hell did I just agree too?" He questioned, annoyed.

Nell giggled, raising a hand to cover her mouth like she was hiding something. Grimmjow growled, irritated, and she rolled her eyes. "Oh, we were just talking about sleeping arrangements and all. You men will be sleeping in one room, us girls in another. Oh, and the boys also agreed on talking shifts beings guards!~" she giggled again. Grimmjow's eyes narrowed, then he sighed and slapped his forehead. What the hell was he doing here?

_Somewhere in Karakura town_

Ichigo was pissed. Partially at the old man, partially at the research division and the insane captain Mayuri who wanted this specific psycho, but mostly at himself. Ugh, he didn't want to sleep in the same room as that guy! Renji he could handle, but Grimmjow? First of all, he was an arrancar. The people they'd just had a war with. This one, in particular, who had tried to kill him several times. Rukia still had the scar from when he punched a hole in her gut. Yet still, she didn't seem the slightest bit worried about this. The most he had gotten out of her was "Nell is gonna be there, and she wouldn't betray you for the world, Ichigo. She'll keep Grimmjow in line, so quit bitching like a wuss," she had demanded.

Renji, at least, seemed to be the only one who agreed with him. "He blew a fucking hole in her, nearly killed you like twice, and yet here we are," he mumbled angrily next to Ichigo.

The orangette nodded, pouting. "It's like she just forgot about it. Sure, I can trust Nell, and I've seen her kick Nnoitra's ass, but that doesn't mean she's gonna be monitoring Grimmjow all the time."

"Exactly! And out of all the arrancar, why him? Why not that Tier chick or Starrk? They were both tough as shit, and they weren't bitchy about it."

"If you two don't stop whispering around back there I'm going to hit you both and make you sleep outside," Rukia called back to them, an irritated look on her face.

Renji and Ichigo looked at one another, then sighed and bowed their heads, replied, "Yes ma'am," and continued to trudge behind her back to soul society to get supplies.

The trio left the shop less than forty minutes later, waving goodbye to all its inhabitants before starting to dig through their newly filled packs.

"We have everything, right? We can't go back later," Rukia warned.

"Yeah, we're fine," Renji called back, zipping his shut. Ichigo nodded in agreement, lost in thought.

He really didn't want to have to see _him_ again, not after that freaking weird meeting. He had been embarrassed enough about that night he refused to talk about, but when he looked up and found Grimmjow staring at him? That nearly made his squeak like a girl. Like, what the hell? Was there something on his face? Was his robe open? Oh god, he wasn't blushing, was he? Shit, what was he supposed to do in a situation like that?

In the end, Grimmjow had just been spacing out, and probably it was just accidentally in his direction right? Yeah. It wasn't intentional, just that he had been looking in that general direction. And no, he was not disappointed about that. Stupid mind. Stupid hormones. Stupid world and existence and this particular mission in general. He kicked a can particularly far as they walked, gaining the attention of Rukia and Renji.

"Problem?" Rukia asked, an eyebrow arched dangerously. Renji made an ex with his arms, then shook his head frantically.

"Err… no?" He replied in a quiet voice, shrinking back. Rukia nodded, then grinned.

"Good. Let's get going then and put on our game faces, cause we're here." She waved an arm in front of her, motioning to their previous meeting place that had somehow ended up in front of them. Ichigo and Renji sighed simultaneously, trudging on behind Rukia.

Nell and Grimmjow had stayed in the room, being served tea by 'Antennae girl' as the spikey haired kid referred to her, and basically just slept. Well, Grimmjow tried, but Nell kept going on and on about all the manga she was reading and the ones Rukia had told her about. She had started to babble about something called 'yaoi', which Grimmjow couldn't seem to comprehend. When he gave her a questioning look, she only giggled and whispered, "It's like _gay porn_, in manga form."

Grimmjow wasn't sure what his face had looked like at the moment, but it was obviously interesting enough that Nell started to laugh uncontrollably until their shinigami 'team mates' returned. Nell greeted Ichigo and Rukia animatedly, though she seemed a bit cautious around the red haired kid. Maybe his tattoos scared her? Naw, she seemed more flustered than scared. The only greeting he got was a smile from the chick (Did he punch her before? He felt like he'd fought with her or something), and two glares from the shinigami and orange haired brat.

His expression had softened some when he nodded towards the younger one, though he wasn't sure why. Maybe the whole 'enemies for life' thing didn't apply to their situation? Well, it didn't for him anyways. Ichiberry (A nickname he'd come up with out of nowhere but annoyed him with its presence) stared at him with what seemed like an intense hate. Well shit, what'd he ever done to him?

Y'know, besides trying to kill him and destroy his town and family and everything he cared about. But hadn't he done the same? Threaten Hueco Mendo, attack all the other arrancar? Not that he particularly gave two shits about any of them or anything, but they were practically even now, right? Grimmjow had beat Ichigo, then Ichigo did the same, now everyone was happy as clams. Oops, or apparently not. Now the teen looked even more pissed. Grimmjow decided tuning in right about now would be a good idea.

"…Are we going or not?!" Was all he caught. He blinked, then stood, stretching until his joints popped.

"Yeah, yeah," He grumbled, sticking his hands in his pockets and walking past him. Nell and the girl he may or may not have fought were already outside, the red head just reaching them before Grimmjow. Ichigo stomped past him, fuming about something or other.

Alright, he hadn't been imagining it, had he? Grimmjow had been staring at him again, and it definitely wasn't him just 'spacing out'. What the hell was he supposed to do with that? He wasn't going to challenge him to another fight, was he? God dammit, he wasn't here to fight again. Wasn't this supposed to be about peace and all that crap?

He glared at the ground the entire way into Hueco Mendo, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. He heard Rukia scoff "Childish" once, but otherwise everyone else seemed to uphold the same mood. Besides Nell, who seemed intent on being as bright and cheerful as possible. Between singing random little songs and trying to initiate some form of game, she brought everyone to their wits end by the time they arrived.

They were dropped in the middle of the desert, too deep in to see any buildings (Not that there are many of those anyways), but since they didn't have the coordinates, middle of the desert was the best they could do.

"Why the hell did we start here?" Grimmjow asked, irritated.

You could practically hear Rukia's teeth grind together in annoyance. Ichigo swore, one day they were simply going to crack, and Rukia was going to have one hell of a time explaining that to Captain Unohana.

"Like she said back at Urahara's place, we have a better chance tracking him from these coordinates, where he was last seen," Renji answered him with an eye roll.

Ichigo smirked. Good, that's what he got for being a creepy ass weirdo watching him during the entire meeting. Though, he wasn't much better… No, wait, he wasn't anything like him. Nope, not at all, he was only looking at him to decide if he were…. Dangerous! Yeah, that's all, just to see if he were dangerous or anything.

Ichigo took one look at Grimmjow, who was now pouting while Rukia scolded him for not paying attention (What was he even supposed to do with that?) and knew this was going to be a very long mission.


End file.
